Professor Joaquin Roy, a Spaniard with valuable sources throughout Europe, notes that Europeans apparently do not approve of the seeming U.S. emphasis on providing military equipment and training to Colombia for a counternarcotics effort in what they see as a larger strategic political conflict. At the same time, he reports that Europeans are not only concerned with the counternarcotics violence in Colombia, but also with the economic, security, and political spillover effects for neighboring countries. Finally and logically, the author reflects the European concern that whatever contribution that might be made to Plan Colombia will likely be lost in the violence of a U.S.-led counternarcotics campaign.

This open access book provides a comprehensive analysis of the EU's crucial support for the implementation of the Havana Peace Agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP. It explores the use of new approaches and instruments that, despite some limitations and criticisms, could go beyond conventional liberal peace and provide useful lessons. Particular attention is paid to three axes: strengthening civil society, protection of human rights and a territorial peace perspective, as a contribution to the "local turn" in peace policies. The book first outlines the background of the conflict, the EU's two-decade defense of a negotiated peace, and the complexities of the peace process. Then, it analyses the development cooperation and political support provided in different areas: the collective reinsertion of ex-guerrillas, women and gender initiatives, the rights of ethnic communities, the sophisticated transitional justice system, as well as activities on reconciliation, victims and protection of human rights defenders.

"The Center for Preventive Action, a conflict prevention initiative of the Council on Foreign Relations, established the Andes 2020 Preventive Action Commission to develop concrete, pragmatic recommendations to broaden and strengthen U.S., international, and local engagement and coordination in the region, with an eye toward strategies that will help prevent the outbreak of major conflict and mitigate current levels of violence." --Book Jacket.

The post-Cold War world has seen the emergence of new kinds of security threats. Whilst traditionally security threats were perceived of in terms of military threats against a state, non-traditional security threats are those that pose a threat to various internal competencies of the state and its identity both home and abroad. The European Union and the United States have identified Latin American cocaine trafficking as a security threat, but their policy responses to it have differed. This book examines the ways in which the EU and the US have conceptualized this threat. Furthermore, it explores the impact of cocaine trafficking on four state functions - economic, political, public order and diplomatic - in order to explain why it has become 'securitized'. Appealing to a variety of university courses, this book is especially relevant to security studies and European and US policy analysis, as well as criminology and sociology.

Many of the US criticisms of Western European reluctance to engage in the 2004 war in Iraq stem from a perception that these governments are 'weak on defence' or unwilling to 'pull their own weight' in the international system. Secretary Rumsfeld pejoratively designated traditional Atlantic Alliance allies as 'Old Europe', to distinguish them from the freshly minted, cooperative states of 'New Europe'. In doing so, Rumsfeld accused 'Old Europe' of yet again relying on the United States to solve shared security problems. This volume critically evaluates the validity of this view of Western European choices and policies. Rather than a primary reliance on military force as first line defence, it proposes that Western European governments are expanding the set of tools they have to apply to the post-Cold War array of security and defence problems. The volume examines the emergent European security approach from multiple perspectives, in multiple institutions and identities, and in different geographic contexts.

For supplementary documentation and useful websites, click here. This perceptive book critically explores why the United States continues to pursue failed policies in Latin America. What elements of the U.S. and Latin American political systems have allowed the Cold War, the war on drugs, and the war on terror to be conflated? Why do U.S. policies—ostensibly designed to promote the rule of law, human rights, and democracy—instead contribute to widespread corruption, erosion of government authority, human rights violations, and increasing destabilization? Why have the war on drugs and the war on terror neither reduced narcotics trafficking nor increased citizen security in Latin America? Why do Latin American governments, the European Union, and U.S. policymakers often work at cross-purposes when they all claim to be committed to "democratization" and "development" in the region? Leading scholars answer these questions by detailing the nature of U.S. economic and security strategies in Latin America and the Andean region since 1990. They analyze the impacts and responses to these strategies by policymakers, political leaders, and social movements throughout the region, explaining how programs often generate or exacerbate the very problems they were intended to solve. Reviewing official policy and its defenders and critics alike, this indispensable book focuses on the reasons for the failure of U.S. policies and their disastrous significance for Latin America and the United States alike. Contributions by: Adrián Bonilla, Pilar Gaitán, Monica Herz, Kenneth Lehman, Brian Loveman, Enrique Obando, Orlando J. Pérez, Eduardo Pizarro, Philipp Schönrock-Martínez, and Juan Gabriel Tokatlian

Documents and analyzes the vast array of peace initiatives that have emerged in Colombia. This title explores how local and regional initiatives relate to national efforts and identifies possible synergies. It examines the multiple roles of civil society and the international community in the country's complex search for peace.

American Ambassador to Colombia, 1994-97, Myles R. R. Frechette provides authoritative, eloquent, and impassioned perspectives on both the achievements and failures of American and Colombian efforts. He argues that American policy made analytical errors that need to be rectified, including underestimating the long-term complexity and interrelated nature of the problem, while both nations overestimated the amount of support that Colombia would receive from the international community. Moreover, nation-building and the rule of law are strategic imperatives which American policy must take seriously. Finally, it is critical to appreciate that Colombian cultural characteristics sharply influence what Colombians will do on their own behalf.